Method and system for providing a widget usable in affiliate marketing

ABSTRACT

A system and computer implemented method for providing a widget are described. The method and system include rendering the widget on a site. The widget dynamically displays multimedia content associated with a campaign. The widget is also embeddable, copyable, and allows for at least one user action. The method and system also include receiving at least one input related to the at least one action and updating the widget based on a goal corresponding to the at least one action.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a Continuation of co-pending U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 11/877,566, filed Oct. 23, 2007, entitled “Methodand System for Providing a Widget Usable in Affiliate Marketing”, whichclaims priority from provisional application Ser. No. 60/853,829, filedOct. 23, 2006, and provisional application Ser. No. 60/854,018, filedOct. 23, 2006, and assigned to the assignee of the present application.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The World Wide Web has matured into an integral part of daily life forusers around the world. The Internet may be used for commerce, socialtransactions, and sharing of multimedia content. For example, electroniccommerce has grown significantly in recent years. Consumer commercialtransactions that occur over the World Wide Web or use protocols thatleverage the Internet such as SMTP (email) are collectively known as“electronic commerce.” The current model for electronic commercialtransactions typically involves one merchant and one consumer engagingin a one-to-one transaction in which a consumer selects a set of goodsand/or services and pays for those goods and/or services through themerchant, and the merchant fulfils the order. The Internet may also beused to facilitate merchants' ability to target potential consumers forcommercial transactions. A merchant may customize advertisements andprovide the advertisements to selected users. In Google™ AdWords, forexample, the merchants' customized content may be selectively displayedbased upon search terms users provide to Google™. The content providedalso provides a mechanism for users to access the merchants' site and,therefore, make purchases. Similarly, affiliate marketing allows apromoter to serve up a static text/image link to a visitor that allowsfor a click through to a page set by an Organizer. If the visitor takesaction as set by the Organizer (visits a page, completes a form,conducts a transaction, etc.) an Affiliate Marketing firm tracks thisaction that takes place on the Organizer's server and completes atransaction based on the agreement between the Organizer and Promoter.After an action is taken by a Visitor, the Promoter's text/image link isin no way modified to reflect this incremental action or changes inform, function, and content based on this incremental action. Suchcommercial mechanisms may be considered to be one-to-many, allowing asingle merchant to reach a large number of consumers.

The World Wide Web has also experienced tremendous growth as a socialmedia. As a social media, the World Wide Web provides a vehicle forsharing user generated content, such as through blogs, personalprofiles, videos, podcasts, and the like. Platforms for sharing usergenerated content, such as Blogger, Myspace, YouTube, and Facebook havebeen developed and benefited from this growth. Other mechanisms forfacilitating social interactions, such as eVite, have also grown. UsingeVite, for example, an organizer may set up an event, sent invitationemails to potential participants, manage RSVPs, estimate budgets, andperform other functions related to the event via dedicated pages oneVite. Moreover, social media and fundraising combine in social paymentsto raise money for a variety of causes. Social media may be used toprovide “Blogathons” that raise money for charities, politicalcampaigns, allow musicians to appeal directly to their audience tounderwrite albums, raise money for schools, parties, clubs and sportsteams, or other causes. In such social payment transactions, organizersmay solicit funds from other individuals visiting blogs or sites.

In order to display media for a variety of purposes, conventionalwidgets may be used. The conventional widgets are often used to displaycontent from a widget owner to a user. For example, a user may load apage, or site, containing the conventional widget and view content, suchas video, provided by the conventional widget. Conventional widgets aregenerally embeddable, portable applications that often run withoutaccess to a user's file system. The conventional widget may be copyableby users. Thus, a user may copy a widget from a site to a location ofthe user's choosing, for example the user's own blog. Conventionalwidgets are also generally small in size and less complex than typicalapplications, such as email or word processing applications. However,there is typically no agreed upon limitation in size or complexity forconventional widgets. Such widgets may be used, for example, by bloggersto share

Although electronic commerce and social transactions are possible viathe World Wide Web, there are drawbacks. Many social and electroniccommerce transactions involve many-to-many relationships. Suchrelationships are not well supported by current electronic commerce andsocial media platforms. In addition, the ability of tools, such aswidgets, to reflect individual users' tastes may be limited.Consequently, users' ability to engage in social, commercial, and othertransactions including sharing of multimedia content may be limited.

Accordingly, what is needed is a method and system for facilitatingsocial and commercial transactions via the Internet. The presentinvention addresses such a need.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A system and computer implemented method for providing a widget aredescribed. The method and system include rendering the widget on a site.The widget dynamically displays multimedia content associated with acampaign. The widget is also embeddable, copyable, and allows for atleast one user action. The method and system also include receiving atleast one input related to the at least one action and dynamicallyupdating the widget based on a goal corresponding to the at least oneaction. In another aspect, the method and system include rendering thewidget on a site associated with the widget owner. In this aspect, thecampaign is for an organizer. In this aspect, the method and system alsoinclude providing a payment to the widget owner based on the goal beingfulfilled. In another aspect, the method and system include providing awidget maker, a database, and at least one server. In this aspect, thewidget maker receives a configuration of the widget. The configurationincludes the campaign with which the widget is associated and indicatesthe update for the widget based on the goal corresponding to the atleast one action. The database is for storing the widget. The serverrenders the widget on a site. In another aspect, the method and systeminclude providing embeddable code based on a configuration. Theembeddable code is copyable, allows at least one user action, isassociated with a campaign, and dynamically displays multimedia content.The configuration further indicates an update for the widget based onthe goal for the at least one action.

According to the method and system disclosed herein, widget(s) may beused for transactions, such as affiliate marketing.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 depicts an exemplary embodiment of a system for performingtransactions over the Internet utilizing widgets.

FIG. 2 depicts an exemplary embodiment of a widget for dynamicallydisplaying multimedia content.

FIG. 3 depicts an exemplary embodiment of a method for providing awidget usable in marketing transactions.

FIG. 4 depicts another exemplary embodiment of a method for providing awidget usable in marketing transactions.

FIG. 5 depicts an exemplary embodiment of a system for providing awidget usable in marketing I transactions.

FIG. 6 depicts another exemplary embodiment of a method for providingwidget usable in marketing transactions.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a method and system for providing awidget. The following description is presented to enable one of ordinaryskill in the art to make and use the invention and is provided in thecontext of a patent application and its requirements. Variousmodifications to the preferred embodiments and the generic principlesand features described herein will be readily apparent to those skilledin the art. Thus, the present invention is not intended to be limited tothe embodiments shown, but is to be accorded the widest scope consistentwith the principles and features described herein.

A system and computer implemented method for providing a widget aredescribed. The method and system include rendering the widget on a site.The widget dynamically displays multimedia content associated with acampaign. The widget is also embeddable, copyable, and allows for atleast one user action. The method and system also include receiving atleast one input related to the at least one action and dynamicallyupdating the widget based on a goal corresponding to the at least oneaction. In another aspect, the method and system include rendering thewidget on a site associated with the widget owner. In this aspect, thecampaign is for an organizer. In this aspect, the method and system alsoinclude providing a payment to the widget owner based on the goal beingfulfilled. In another aspect, the method and system include providing awidget maker, a database, and at least one server. In this aspect, thewidget maker receives a configuration of the widget. The configurationincludes the campaign with which the widget is associated and indicatesthe update for the widget based on the goal corresponding to the atleast one action. The database is for storing the widget. The serverrenders the widget on a site. In another aspect, the method and systeminclude providing embeddable code based on a configuration. Theembeddable code is copyable, allows at least one user action, isassociated with a campaign, and dynamically displays multimedia content.The configuration further indicates an update for the widget based onthe goal for the at least one action.

The method and system are mainly described in terms of particularsystems provided in particular implementations. However, one of ordinaryskill in the art will readily recognize that this method and system willoperate effectively in other implementations. For example, the systems,devices, and networks usable with the present invention can take anumber of different forms. For example, the method and system may not belimited to the Internet, but instead may be usable with other networksand/or devices, such as cellular telephones and other hand-held devices.The method and system are also described in the context of particulartransactions being performed. One of ordinary skill in the art willrecognize, however, that the method and system may be used in othertransactions. The method and system will also be described in thecontext of particular methods having certain steps. However, the methodand system operate effectively for other methods having different and/oradditional steps not inconsistent with the present invention.

FIG. 1 depicts an exemplary embodiment of a system 100 forelectronically performing transactions utilizing widgets. The system 100may be used for various transactions such as electronic commerce, socialpayment transactions (e.g. fundraising), affiliate marketing, othersocial transaction such as sharing of multimedia, blogging, or otheractivities. The transactions may be performed through a variety ofelectronic media, for example via the Internet, through a cell network,using mobile phones, desktop computer systems, PDAs, laptop computersystems, or other electronic systems. Such transactions relate toevents. For example, an organizer such as a particular cause or charitymay desire to use the system 100 for events such as a fundraisingcampaign based only on Internet contributions, blograising performed inconjunction with a traditional (non-Internet based) fundraisingcampaign, campaigns that drive and track traffic to a particular Website, campaigns that drive and track visitor actions, campaigns based onthe occurrence of a particular event such as an ongoing fundraisingcampaign, in a campaign of limited duration, or for other purposes.Similarly, a couple getting married may use the system 100 to shareinformation about the wedding and/or multimedia from the wedding itself,track guests, or otherwise communicate with interested individuals. Inaffiliate marketing, a business or other entity termed an organizer mayuse the system 100 serving up dynamic content to users, or viewers, ofsites in the system 100. In order to facilitate such electronictransactions, the system 100 allows a widget owner to configure awidget, allows the widget to be disseminated, and may manage payments,rich media, and/or other data transmitted through the widget.

In the embodiment shown, the system 100 includes a provider 101. Theprovider 101 allows a widget owner to configure a widget, may host awidget, may enforce rules relating to the widget, may store data relatedto the widget owner, and perform other tasks related to the widget. Thewidget owner might be the organizer of the event or campaign and/or acontent provider owning one of the widgets in the system 100. Coupleddirectly to the provider 101 are a site, or blog, 120 corresponding to awidget owner, a provider hosted blog 130, additional blogs 140 and 150.The widgets 122, 132, 142, and 152 are provided on blogs 120, 130, 140and 150, respectively. In addition, blogs 120A, 120B, 120C, 130A, 130B,130C, 130D, 130E, 140A, 140B, 140C, and 140D are shown as indirectlycoupled with the provider 101. The blogs 120A, 120B, 120C, 130A, 130B,130C, 130D, 130E, 140A, 140B, 140C, and 140D include correspondingwidgets 122A, 122B, 122C, 132A, 132B, 132C, 132D, 132E, 142A, 142B,142C, and 142D, respectively. The coupling with the provider 101 of thesites 120, 130, 140, 150, 120A, 120B, 120C, 130A, 130B, 130C, 130D,130E, 140A, 140B, 140C, and 140D indicates that the widgets 122A, 122B,122C, 132A, 132B, 132C, 132D, 132E, 142A, 142B, 142C, and 142D,respectively, are copies rather than physical connections. For example,the widget 122A is a copy of the widget 122. Thus, blogs 120A, 120B,120C, 130A, 130B, 130C, 130D, 130E, 140A, 140B, 140C, and 140D mayreceive content from and provide content to the provider 101 directly.In addition, for simplicity a single widget 122A, 122B, 122C, 132A,132B, 132C, 132D, 132E, 142A, 142B, 142C, and 142D is associated witheach blog 120, 130, 140, 150, 120A, 120B, 120C, 130A, 130B, 130C, 130D,130E, 140A, 140B, 140C, and 140D, respectively. However, in anotherembodiment, multiple widgets (not shown) may reside on a single site.

The provider 101 includes a widget maker 102 that may have acorresponding widget panel 112, tracking and/or payment subsystem 104,proxy server 106, and a database 108. The provider 101 might alsoprovide a corresponding payment page 110, for example if transactionsinvolving payment are provided through the provider 101. Thus, thewidget maker 102, tracking and/or payment subsystem 104, widget panel112, and database 108 may be controlled by and accessed through theprovider 101. The owner of the provider 101 may, for example, charge afixed fee or a percentage of donations for use of and services providedin connection with the system 100. Although shown together at theprovider 101, the components 102, 104, 106, 108, 110, and 112 may beremotely located and/or owned in whole or in part by another entity. Inanother embodiment, at least some of the components 102, 104, 106, 108,110, and 112 might be omitted. Use of such components also depends uponthe transactions for which the system 100 is utilized. For example, ifthe system 100 is utilized for sharing of content not involvingfinancial transactions and payment, the payment page 110 and paymentportion of the subsystem 104 might be omitted. In addition, althoughonly one of each component 102, 104, 106, 108, 110, and 112 are shown,multiple versions may be provided. In an alternate embodiment, the tasksof the components 102, 104, 106, 108, 110, and 112 may also be dividedin another manner.

The widget maker 102, as well as the widget panel 112 may be used toconfigure widgets 122, 132, 142, 152, 122A, 122B, 122C, 132A, 132B,132C, 132D, 132E, 142A, 142B, 142C, and 142D. For simplicity, the widgetmaker 102 is described in the context of the widgets 122, 132, 142,and/or 152. In operation, the widget owner utilizes the widget maker 102in order to generate and customize the widget 122, 132, 142 and/or 152.In one embodiment, the widget maker 102 provides the widget panel 112,which is a user interface that allows the widget owner to provide inputto the provider 101 to customize the widget 122, 132, 142 and/or 152. Inone embodiment, the widget panel 112 is a page that allows the widgetowner to select features of the widget 122, 132, 142, and/or 152. Forexample, the color, shape, event(s)/campaign(s) or other externalitiesassociated with the widget 122, 132, 142, and/or 152, rich media, levelof detail and other aspects of the widget 122, 132, 142, and/or 152 maybe set based on the widget owner's elections in the widget panel 112.For example, the widget owner may specify that the widget 122, 132, 142,and/or 152 is to be associated with specific event(s), data sources,and/or content and may provide a profile for the type of events and/orcontent with which the widget 122, 132, 142, and/or 152 may beassociated. The widget owner may also specify the location of fields,data within the fields, colors, and other features of the widget 122,132, 142, and/or 152 through the widget maker 102. Thus, a single widget122, 132, 142, and/or 152 may be configured to display informationrelated to multiple events, ad campaigns, or other items in which thewidget owner is interested.

The tracking and payment subsystem 104 may be used to track variousattributes of the widgets and, in some embodiments, to make paymentsthrough the widget. For example, click throughs, number of times viewed,copies, or other ongoing attributes related to the widget may be trackedusing the tracking and payment subsystem. In addition, the tracking andpayment subsystem 104 may be utilized in managing the payments made andthe payment page 110. The payment page 110 may be used to performfinancial transactions, such as making payments and/or contributionsassociated with the widgets. The tracking and payment subsystem 104 mayauthenticate users and/or forms of payment, track payments, validateextraction of funds, validate and track payments and forms of paymentmade to content providers, and otherwise manage the actual fundsprovided to an event or paid out from an event. In one embodiment, thepayments may be validated and held by the owner of the provider 101 orother designated third party (not shown) until a particular condition isfulfilled, for example the end of the fundraising campaign, sale, orother event. In such an embodiment, a widget owner may be allowed toextract some or all of the funds. In an alternate embodiment, paymentsmay not be considered made and extraction of funds may not be alloweduntil the event closes. Further, the tracking and payment subsystem 104may allow payments to content providers (e.g. widget owners of copies),widget owners of ancestor widgets, and/or other designated entities in avariety of forms including but not limited to cash or the equivalent,gift cards, or other items. The payment features provided through thetracking and payments subsystem 104 may include allowed forms ofpayment, event tracking, rules for extracting funds, the look and feelof the payment page, and other data relating to payment. Althoughdescribed as a single subsystem 106, the tracking and payment functionsmay be split into multiple subsystems.

The proxy server 106 may be used to replicate the widget(s) to othersites not associated with the widget owner or provider 101. For example,the proxy server 106 may be used to provide the widget 142D in the blog140D. Furthermore, in one embodiment, the proxy server 106 may allowcontent, such as rich media audio or video, from site(s) not directlyassociated with the provider 101 to be played on the widgets. In oneembodiment, widgets may communicate directly through the proxy server101, for example to disseminate comments, donation amounts, and/or otherinformation. Individual components of the provider 101 are discussedfurther below.

The database 108 may store data relating to the widget owner and thewidgets hosted by the provider 101. For clarity the database 108 isdescribed in the context of the widget 122. Thus, the database 108 maystore the parameters and other data corresponding to the widget owner'sselections for the widget 122, the identities of each widget and widgetowner, as well as other data related to the widget owner. Thus, thewidget data may be considered to include owner selected widget features,payment features (if any), and event features (if any). For example,widget features may include the content such as rich media displayed onthe widget, thermometers or other mechanisms selected for tracking theprogress of the campaign, colors, specific content providers authorizedto host the widget, profiles of content providers authorized to host thewidget, parameters related to dynamically updating the widget, and otherdata used in customizing the widget. The widget owner may also specifyparameters corresponding to the ability of copies of the widget 122 tobe customized. These parameters may also be stored in the database 108.Also stored in the database 108 may be relationships between widgets.For example, the database 108 may store the identity of the widgets 122,122A, 122B, and 122C as well as an indication that 122A is a copy of122, and that 122B and 122C are copies of 122A.

Although not separately shown, the provider 101 may include othercomponents. For example, the provider 101 may include server(s) forrendering, authenticating, and performing other functions related to thewidgets 122, 132, 142, 152, 122A, 122B, 122C, 132A, 132B, 132C, 132D,132E, 142A, 142B, 142C, and 142D.

As discussed above, the sites 120, 130, 140, 150, 120A, 120B, 120C,130A, 130B, 130C, 130D, 130E, 140A, 140B, 140C, and 140D containcorresponding widgets 122, 132, 142, 152, 122A, 122B, 122C, 132A, 132B,132C, 132D, 132E, 142A, 142B, 142C, and 142D, respectively. The widgets122, 132, 142, 152, 122A, 122B, 122C, 132A, 132B, 132C, 132D, 132E,142A, 142B, 142C, and 142D dynamically display multimedia content. Inone embodiment, the widgets 122, 132, 142, 152, 122A, 122B, 122C, 132A,132B, 132C, 132D, 132E, 142A, 142B, 142C, and 142D are analogous toconventional widgets in that the widgets 122, 132, 142, 152, 122A, 122B,122C, 132A, 132B, 132C, 132D, 132E, 142A, 142B, 142C, and 142D are usedto display multimedia content, may be embeddable and portable, may becopyable, may be small in size, and may be less complex than typicalapplications. In one embodiment, the widgets 122, 132, 142, 152, 122A,122B, 122C, 132A, 132B, 132C, 132D, 132E, 142A, 142B, 142C, and 142D maythus be embeddable code snippets, for example Flash, HTML, XML, XHTML,SBML, .NET, Java, JavaScript, JSP, VisualBasic Applet or analogousapplications. The widgets 122, 132, 142, 152, 122A, 122B, 122C, 132A,132B, 132C, 132D, 132E, 142A, 142B, 142C, and 142D may be embeddable ina multitude of architectures, for example web pages, mobile phones,PDAs, and/or provided via email. In addition, because the widgets 122,132, 142, 152, 122A, 122B, 122C, 132A, 132B, 132C, 132D, 132E, 142A,142B, 142C, and 142D are embeddable, they may be self-replicating innature. The widgets 122, 132, 142, 152, 122A, 122B, 122C, 132A, 132B,132C, 132D, 132E, 142A, 142B, 142C, and 142D may also be viewed as thecontent appearing on the corresponding site 120, 130, 140, 150, 120A,120B, 120C, 130A, 1320, 130C, 130D, 130E, 140A, 140B, 140C, and 140D,respectively, when the widget 122, 132, 142, 152, 122A, 122B, 122C,132A, 132B, 132C, 132D, 132E, 142A, 142B, 142C, and 142D is rendered. Inaddition, although described herein as being rendered on a site that maybe accessed through a browser (not explicitly shown), the widgets 122,132, 142, 152, 122A, 122B, 122C, 132A, 132B, 132C, 132D, 132E, 142A,142B, 142C, and 142D may not be limited to such environments. Forexample, the widgets 122, 132, 142, 152, 122A, 122B, 122C, 132A, 132B,132C, 132D, 132E, 142A, 142B, 142C, and/or 142D may reside on a desktop,mobile phone, or other environment.

In one embodiment of the system 100, the widgets 122, 142, and 152 maybe original widgets initially configured by their owners, rather thancopies of another widget. For example, the widget owner's site 120includes a widget 122 that is provided by the provider 101. Similarly,the sites 140 and 150 include the widgets 142 and 152, respectively,provided by the provider 101. In the embodiment shown, the widgets 122,142, and 152 are configured by the widget owner(s) through the widgetmaker 102. Configuration of the widgets 122, 142, and 152, particularlyas it relates to copies of the widgets 122, 142, and 152 is discussedbelow. In another embodiment, the widgets 122, 142, and 152 may becopies of another widget. For example, the widgets 142 and 152 might becopies of the widget 122.

The provider hosted site, or blog, 130 is shown as including a widget132. For the purposes of describing the system 100, the widget 132 isrelated to the widget 122. In another embodiment, the provider hostedsite 130 may include other widgets, for example corresponding to thewidgets 142 and 152. As a result, every widget and/or it correspondingevent might have its own URL. This unique address may be tied to awidget owner or individual and may symbolize a particular event orcampaign. In one embodiment, the widget 132 and the widget 122 aresubstantially identical. In another embodiment, aspects of the widget132 may be different from the widget 122. For example, the colors usedor placement of fields may differ. These differences may be based uponthe widget owner's preference as established during initialconfiguration of the widgets 122 and 132, or at some later modificationof the widgets 122 and 132. In one embodiment, the widget ownerconfigures both the widgets 122 and/or 132. In one embodiment, thewidget owner may choose to have only the widget 122, only the widget132, or both the widget 122 and/or 132 rendered on the sites 120 and130.

In one embodiment, the widgets 122, 132, 142, and 152 are made using thewidget maker 102. As discussed above, the widget owner may access thewidget maker 102 through the widget panel 112. The widget maker 102offers the widget owner the opportunity to provide parameters used incustomizing the widgets 122, 132, 142, and/or 152. For example, thecolor, multimedia to be provided, tracking mechanisms allowed, abilityof the widgets 122, 132, 142, and/or 152 to be copied, modifiability ofthe copies, inclusion of fields, location of fields, and other featuresof the widgets 122, 132, 142, and/or 152 may be specified through thewidget maker 102. These parameters may be stored by the provider 101,for example in the database 108. In one embodiment, the widgets 122A,122B, 122C, 132A, 132B, 132C, 132D, 132E, 142A, 142B, 142C, and 142D maybe customized, at least to a limited extent, in a similar fashion. Inaddition, customization of a particular copy may be limited or otherwisecontrolled by customization of widget(s) from which the copy is derived.Such customization may take place through the widget maker 102 and/orthrough a widget editor (not separately shown in FIG. 1), which mayallow for customization of copied widgets but not generation of newwidgets. The widget editor may be considered to be part of the widgetmaker 102 or may be a separate component.

Although the original code from the widget maker 102 may reside with theprovider 101, the widgets might be copied to other site(s). For clarity,such copying is discussed primarily in the context of widget 122. In oneembodiment, the widget 122 may be copied through a field within thewidget 122. In another embodiment, the widget 122 may be copied via theproxy server 106. In yet another embodiment, the widget 122 may becopied either through a field within the widget 122 or via the proxyserver 106. Alternatively, a separate mechanism for copying the widget122 might be provided. For example, the blog 120A includes a widget 122Athat is a copy of the widget 122. Similarly, the blogs 120B and 120Cinclude widgets 122B and 122C, respectively, that are copies of thewidget 122A (and thus the widget 122). The blogs 130A and 130B includewidgets 132A and 132B, respectively, that are copies of the widget 132.Blots 130C, 130D, and 130E include widgets 132C, 132D, and 132E,respectively, that are copies of the widget 132A and thus the widget132. The blogs 140A and 140B include widgets 142A and 142B,respectively, that are copies of the widget 142. In addition, in oneembodiment, copies can be made of previously copied widgets. Forexample, the blogs 140C and 140D include widgets 142C and 142D,respectively, that are copies of the widget 142A (and thus the widget142). In one embodiment, the widget 142 might be a copy of the widgets122 and/or 132. Alternatively, the widget 142 may be a distinct widgethosted by the provider 101. Thus, the widgets 122A, 122B, 122C, 132A,132B, 132C, 132D, 132E, 142A, 142B, 142C, and 142D are copies of thewidgets 122, 132, and 142. Stated differently, the widgets 122, 132, and142 are ancestors of the widgets 122A, 122B, 122C, 132A, 132B, 132C,132D, 132E, 142A, 142B, 142C, and 142D. As used herein, an ancestorwidget is a widget from which another widget is copied. The widget, orcopy, may but need not be updated based upon changes to the ancestorwidget. For example, changes to an ancestor widget may, but need not, bepushed in real time to copies. In addition, multiple generations ofancestor widgets may be formed. For example, both the widgets 122 and122A are ancestors of the widgets 122B and 122C. The widgets 122B and122C are thus second generation copies of the widget 122 and firstgeneration copies of the widget 122A.

Although described as copies, the widgets 122A, 122B, 122C, 132A, 132B,132C, 132D, 132E, 142A, 142B, 142C, and 142D may not be identical to thewidgets 122, 132, and 142. Instead, the widgets 122A, 122B, 122C, 132A,132B, 132C, 132D, 132E, 142A, 142B, 142C, and 142D may be customized, atleast to a limited extent, by the owners of the widgets 122A, 122B,122C, 132A, 132B, 132C, 132D, 132E, 142A, 142B, 142C, and 142D. Inparticular, a widget owner may set the parameters of the widget 122,132, and/or 142 to control the customization of copies 122A, 122B, and122C, copies 132A, 132B, 132C, 132D, and 132E, and copies 142A, 142B,142C, and 142D, respectively. Such customization is described below.

The provider 101 may be able to push data to one or more of the widgets122, 132, 142, and 152, as well as to the widgets 122A, 122B, 122C,132A, 132B, 132C, 132D, 132E, 142A, 142B, 142C, and 142D. Thus, data maybe pushed to all of the widgets 122, 132, 142, 152, 122A, 122B, 122C,132A, 132B, 132C, 132D, 132E, 142A, 142B, 142C, and 142D or a selectedportion of the widgets 122, 132, 142, 152, 122A, 122B, 122C, 132A, 132B,132C, 132D, 132E, 142A, 142B, 142C, and 142D. In order to determine towhich widgets 122, 132, 142, 152, 122A, 122B, 122C, 132A, 132B, 132C,132D, 132E, 142A, 142B, 142C, and 142D data is to be pushed, therelationships between widgets may be tracked and stored, for example inthe database 108. For example, suppose data related to changes to thewidget 122 is to be pushed only to first-generation copies. In such anembodiment, the relationship between the widgets 122 and 122A as well asthe relationships between the widget 122 and the widgets 122B and 122Cis utilized to determine that data should only be pushed to the widget122A. Consequently, the relationships between, or ancestry of, thewidgets 122, 132, 142, 152, 122A, 122B, 122C, 132A, 132B, 132C, 132D,132E, 142A, 142B, 142C, and 142D may be tracked and/or stored by theprovider 101. The ability to push data to widgets and/or their copiesmay be determined by the widget owners.

Further, a widget 122, 132, 142, 152, 122A, 122B, 122C, 132A, 132B,132C, 132D, 132E, 142A, 142B, 142C, and/or 142D may be pushed toselected content providers (otherwise known as promoters) based upon thewidget owner's preferences and characteristics of the content providers.These content providers may be considered to be widget owners for thecopies of the widget on their site. For example, suppose the widgetowner of widget 142 wishes to obtain contributions for a politicalcampaign. The widget owner may indicate that certain sites havingcompatible political views, that are known to reach a particularaudience, that relate to a particular geographic area, and/or that havea requisite level of effectiveness in obtaining contributions aredesired. Such sites may be blogs 140A, 140B and 140C. Further, thecontent providers of the blogs 140A, 140B, and 140C may agree to hostwidgets for particular causes. If there is a match between thepreferences of the widget owner and the content providers of the blogs140A, 140B and 140C, the provider 101 may push the widget 142 for thepolitical campaign to blogs 140A, 140B and 140C. Thus, the widgets 142A,142B, and 142C may be provided. In return, the content providers (e.g.owners of the sites 140A, 140B, and 140C) may receive payment forhosting copies of the widget 142. In order to determine to which widgets122, 132, 142, 152, 122A, 122B, 122C, 132A, 132B, 132C, 132D, 132E,142A, 142B, 142C, and 142D were pushed to which sites, the relationshipsbetween widgets may be tracked and stored. For example, the widget 122may be desired to be pushed to the site 120A, thereby providing widget122A. Consequently, the relationship between the widget 122A pushed tothe site 120A and the widget 122 may be stored in the database 108.

Thus, a widget 122, 132, 142, 152 and any copies may have bothmany-to-one and one-to-many capabilities. Stated differently, a singlewidget may be associated with multiple events, widget owners, orcampaigns. In addition, a single fundraising event/campaign or eventsfor a single organizer may be displayed on multiple widgets.

Data may also be encrypted by the data source provider and decrypted bythe widget 122, 132, 142, 152, 122A, 122B, 122C, 132A, 132B, 132C, 132D,132E, 142A, 142B, 142C, and/or 142D based on private/public keycryptography, encryption, DES variants, passwords, or other securemeans. Each widget 122, 132, 142, 152, 122A, 122B, 122C, 132A, 132B,132C, 132D, 132E, 142A, 142B, 142C, and 142D may also have identifiers,for example in a header. These identifiers may, for example, associate awidget with particular widget owner(s), particular widgets 122, 132,142, 152, 122A, 122B, 122C, 132A, 132B, 132C, 132D, 132E, 142A, 142B,142C, and 142D, particular event(s), and/or particular contentprovider(s). Thus, the identifiers may indicate from which ancestorwidget a particular widget 122A, 122B, 122C, 132A, 132B, 132C, 132D,132E, 142A, 142B, 142C, and 142D was replicated. The identifier mayinclude multiple generations of ancestors and/or indicate where in thefamily tree of copies the widget fits. Thus, the ancestor relationships,such as parent-child relationships between widgets, as well as thedegrees of separation between the generations of copies and theirancestor(s) may be tracked. The identifiers may, therefore, control ofwidgets 122, 132, 142, 122A, 122B, 122C, 132A, 132B, 132C, 132D, 132E,142A, 142B, 142C, and 142D based upon their relationships to otherwidgets in the family tree. The identifiers may also allow the widget122, 132, 142, 122A, 122B, 122C, 132A, 132B, 132C, 132D, 132E, 142A,142B, 142C, and 142D to be validated and controlled, for example by theprovider 101 and/or widget owner. When a user accesses a site, such asthe site 120A, the provider 101 may render the widget 122A based uponthe configuration selected by the owner of the ancestor widget 122 andthe owner of the widget 122A, render the widget 122A based onpreferences of the content provider, accept content from the widget122A, allow and track payments via the widget 122A, push content to thewidget 122A, and perform other tasks using the widget 122A, as describedbelow. Analogous controls may also be exercised over copies of theancestor widget.

FIG. 2 depicts an exemplary embodiment of a widget 180 that maydynamically display multimedia content. The widget 180 may thuscorrespond to one or more of the widgets 122, 132, 142, 152, 122A, 122B,122C, 132A, 132B, 132C, 132D, 132E, 142A, 142B, 142C, and 142D depictedin FIG. 1. Thus, the designations 180 and 122, 132, 142, 152, 122A,122B, 122C, 132A, 132B, 132C, 132D, 132E, 142A, 142B, 142C, and/or 142Dmay be used interchangeably herein. Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, thewidget 180 includes fields 182, 184, 186, 188, 190, 192, 194, 196, and198. The widget 180 may also include other information (not shown inFIG. 2) such as the header described above. The widgets 122, 132, 142,152, 122A, 122B, 122C, 132A, 132B, 132C, 132D, 132E, 142A, 142B, 142C,and 142D may include some or all of these fields 182, 184, 186, 188,190, 192, 194, 196, and 198 as well as other fields (not shown).Moreover, although only one of each field 182, 184, 186, 188, 190, 192,194, 196, and 198 are shown, multiple versions of one or more of thefields 182, 184, 186, 188, 190, 192, 194, 196, and 198 might beincluded. For example, multiple rich media fields 198, multipleimages/content fields 196 and multiple fields 182 for tracking an eventassociated with a widget may be included. In addition to the fields 182,184, 186, 188, 190, 192, 194, 196, and 198, the color and other aspectsof the widget 180 may be customized. Configuration of the fields 182,184, 186, 188, 190, 192 194, 196, and 198 may thus be part ofcustomization of the widget 180. For example, the inclusion of, size,and placement of the fields 182, 184, 186, 188, 190, 192, 194, 196, and198 may differ between the widgets 122, 132, 142, 152, 122A, 122B, 122C,132A, 132B, 132C, 132D, 132E, 142A, 142B, 142C, and 142D.

The field 182 may be used in tracking attributes related to the widget180 or widget(s) from which the widget 180 was copied. For example, anevent associated with the widget 180, such as a fundraising campaign,may be tracked in the field 182. The tracking mechanisms, such as athermometer, status bar, and/or count down clock, may provide real timeviews of the event in the field 182. Other features that may be trackedand depicted, for example in the field 182 may include data such as afundraising or other goal, event start time and duration, and the typeof output for each event. Upon a refresh request and/or periodicallybased upon a widget owner and/or provider set preferences, the eventprogress tracking mechanisms in the field 182 may be updated by theprovider to reflect any changes in the event. For example, upon donationfrom any of the widgets 122, 132, 142, 152, 122A, 122B, 122C, 132A,132B, 132C, 132D, 132E, 142A, 142B, 142C, and 142D depicted in FIG. 1,the provider 101 may push data to all (or some subset of) the widgets122, 132, 142, 152, 122A, 122B, 122C, 132A, 132B, 132C, 132D, 132E,142A, 142B, 142C, and 142D to reflect the change in the amount received.Thus, the level of a thermometer or status bar in the field 182 maychange based upon real-time events. The tracking mechanisms can beprovided for the campaign(s) associated with the event or provider,sub-campaigns, as well as other externalities that are of interest tothe widget owner. For example, the owner of the widget 122A may initiatea sub-campaign for a fundraising campaign associated with the widget122. The widgets 122B and 122C may then be associated with thesub-campaign, as well as the campaign. Consequently, the viewers of thewidgets 122B and 122C might make donations using the widgets 122B and122C, respectively.

Field 186 may be similar to field 182. Tracking of sub-campaigns orother attributes related to widgets that are copies of an ancestorwidget may be provided in field 186. For example, the field 186 may beused to track the progress of a sub-campaign in the context of a largerfundraising campaign tracked in the field 182. For example, status bars,thermometers, or other mechanisms that track attributes of the copy maybe provided in field 186. Note that if the widget 180 is a copy ofanother widget, the tracking provided in field 186 may be for attributesselected by the owner of the widget 180. The field 182 may then displaytracking of attributes of an ancestor widget. Conversely, if the widget180 is an ancestor of another widget, the field 182 may provide trackingfor attributes originally selected by the owner of the widget 180. Thefield 186 may then be provided at a later date if the owner of thewidget 180 desires to track attributes of a copy.

Comments may be made and/or displayed in the comments field 184 and/orin the rich media field 198. Comments may be in textual or rich mediaformat including video and audio. The widget 180 may also include richmedia customized by the widget owner or other content provider in field198. For example, a widget owner can choose to include images as well asaudio and/or video messages to encourage users to make a donation,perform some other action, or simply share content. Content providersmight also be allowed add their own content to the widget on their siteand copies thereof. For example, the widget owner for site 130D may beallowed to add their own rich media content to the widget 132D in thefield 198. The provider 101 renders such rich media when the sitehosting 130D the widget 132D is accessed by a user. In one embodiment,the rich media discussions/comments in fields 184 and 198 may bepublished in real time throughout all widgets that are related to aparticular widget regardless of from where the widget is being hosted.Thus, threaded text and rich media discussions/comments may be providedvia the widgets 180 themselves. In addition, comments provided via oneof the widgets 122, 132, 142, 152, 122A, 122B, 122C, 132A, 132B, 132C,132D, 132E, 142A, 142B, 142C, and 142D may be disseminated by theprovider 101 to all or a subset of the widgets 122, 132, 142, 152, 122A,122B, 122C, 132A, 132B, 132C, 132D, 132E, 142A, 142B, 142C, and 142Dupon a refresh request and/or periodically based upon organizer and/orprovider set preferences.

The buttons 188, 192, and 194 may have various uses. Although only threebuttons 188, 192 and 194 are shown, fewer or more buttons may beprovided. In one embodiment, the button 194 is a status button. Thestatus button 194 provides a mechanism for viewing further detailsrelating to the event or other externality associated with the widget180 and/or owner of the widget 180.

The button 192 may be a payment button. The payment button 192 may allowusers to make payments through the widget 180 without leaving the sitehosting the widget 180. Such a payment might, for example, be forelectronic commerce or fundraising. In one embodiment, selection of apayment button 192 by a user results in the correspondingorganizer-configured payment page 110 being accessed. The user may thenmake a payment that is managed by the tracking and payment subsystem104. The payment features that may correspond to the payment button 192may include allowed forms of payment, event tracking, rules forextracting funds, the look and feel of the payment page 110, and otherdata relating to payment. The payment button 192 may also refer the userto another site (not shown) through which payment may be made. Such asite might, but need not, be associated with the provider 101.

In addition, the widget 180 may be authenticated, which facilitatespayment through the widget 180. For example, the button 188 may be anauthentication button. A user may click on the authentication button188. The widget 180 may then make a call back to one or moreauthentication services. The authentication received is passed back tothe widget 180. Alternatively, a widget 180 may automatically and/orperiodically request authentication and present this to the user in thefield 188. This communication with authentication services may beperformed via the provider 101 and/or through a third party. Theauthentication allows a user to have a greater level of assurance thatpayment through the widget 180 is secure.

Authentication of the widget 180 may be extended to other embeddableapplications, such as Flash applications. The authentication process mayalso use an embedded, dynamically generated by a third party, site seal(not shown) on the widget 180. This embeddable seal may be provided inthe form of a code snippet (not shown) by a third party authenticationfirm to be embedded in the organization's widget. Before a widget ownerembeds the code snippet, they complete a validation process with thethird party. Once authorized, embedded, and published live on theInternet, the user of the widget 180 sees a dynamically generated sealdirectly within the widget 180 that may also include dynamicallygenerated code specific to that widget 180 from the third partyauthentication firm. Such a seal may be provided in the field 188. Whena user clicks on the seal, they are taken to the trusted third party'ssite to authenticate that the widget 180 is registered with the thirdparty and to view any security levels, if present, that protects theuser of widget 180. Upon arriving at the third party site forvalidation, the user may enter a code that is present on the seal. Ifthe code entered matches what the third party expects for that seal, theprofile of the company and other attributes are shared with the user.The third party may also use URL information to ensure, if desired, thata widget 180 is being hosted on a Web page or other Internet hostmedium, if URL information is required as part of the authenticationprocess. This might include an additional check that the source code ofthe widget 180 remains with the trusted third party and/or has beenchecked by the third party and that the user is viewing an un-tamperedversion of a widget 180 based on digital signature credentials embeddedin the widget 180 by the third party firm. The seal may also includedynamically generated content directly into the widget 180 that showsinformation including the current date and time to show visitorsauthentication information without having the visitor click through thatthe widget.

The widget 180 may also include a copying field 190. As discussed above,the widget 180 may also be self replicating and may, therefore, becopied and placed in multiple sites by multiple content providers. Tofacilitate this feature, the copying field 190 may be provided. Thecopying field 190 may allow copying of the widget 180 through the widget180. In one embodiment, the copying field 190 provides a link thatdisplays the code for the widget 180 and allows a user to copy and pastethe code to another site. Consequently, a separate field (not shown) ora link to a different site for replicating the widget need not beprovided. However, in an alternate embodiment, the link to a differentsite may be provided and used. Moreover, a content provider may beallowed to customize the widget 180 at least to a limited extent. In oneembodiment, this customization may be limited by the widget owner of theancestor widget, as described below. Thus, replications or copies of awidget 180 may not be identical to the widget 180. For example, the codefor the widget includes an identification of the event(s) with which thewidget is associated and parameters related to the size, shape, andcolor of the widget. The copier of the widget 180 may be allowed changeand/or add to the event(s) with which the widget is associated and alterthe parameters to change the size, shape, and/or color of the widgetdisplayed on the content provider's site. However, such changes may belimited or excluded by the owner of the ancestor widget.

Although copying may be performed through the field 190, in oneembodiment, the original code for the widget 180 resides with theprovider. Consequently, upgrades, changes to the widget configurationmade by the widget owner, and other content may be pushed from theprovider 101 to the widget 180. Such changes may also be pushed to someor all of the widget 180 copies. Embedded in the copied code may be areference to the ancestor widget as well as a new identification toidentify the copied widget. In addition to copying, an email may berequested so that the user copying the widget may request set up of anaccount identifying that user as the copier of that widget 180 and thusretaining any tracking, benefits, or rewards as a result of trafficgenerated from the copied widget.

In addition to being copied through the copying field 190, in someembodiments, the widget may be copied to other sites through the proxyserver 106. In particular, the widget owner, the provider 101, oranother content provider may wish to replicate the widget on othersite(s) not directly associated with the provider 101. In order to doso, the proxy server 106 may provide an indirect connection to the othersite(s), credential the site(s), and replicate the widget 180 to thesite(s). Furthermore, the proxy server 106 may allow content, such asrich media audio or video, from site(s) not directly associated with theprovider to be played on the widget 180. In addition, widgets maycommunicate directly through the proxy server, for example todisseminate comments, donation amounts, and/or other information.

Use of the system 100 and widget 180 may facilitate electronictransactions. Because the widget may be copied and further customized,sub-campaigns or other subsets of content of interest to copier(s) of anancestor widget may be formed and tracked through the widget 180. Forexample, a content provider may copy a widget 180 to his or her ownsite. Thus, widgets such as the widget 122A on the site 120A may beprovided from another widget 122 on another site 120. The widget ownerof the copy (copy owner) may then be allowed to add a sub-campaign orother features to the copy. In a preferred embodiment, the copy ownerregisters with the ancestor widget owner (via the provider 101) in orderto do so. For the purposes of discussion, the features that may be addedor changed are described in the context of sub-campaigns. However, oneof ordinary skill in the art will recognize that the modifications arenot limited to sub-campaigns. The copy owner may be allowed to specifythe terms of the sub-campaign within the context of the campaign, butgenerally would not be authorized to alter the specifications of thecampaign. The sub-campaign might be considered to be a group paymentfrom contributors to the sub-campaign. Such a sub-campaign may betracked, including using tracking mechanisms, such as the tracking andpayment subsystem 104, in a manner analogous to the campaign. Forexample, the widget owner of the ancestor widget may initiate afundraising campaign for one million dollars and provide a campaignthermometer in the field 182 of the corresponding widget 180. A copyowner might initiate a sub-campaign for five hundred dollars. Thissub-campaign would be provided in field 186 on a copy of the widget 180,further customized, and placed on the copy owner's or other site (e.g.their blog). The copy of the widget 180 corresponding to thesub-campaign may provide event progress tracking in the form of asub-campaign thermometer in the field 186. The sub-campaign mightinclude any contributions made through the copy owner's widget andcopies of the copy owner's widget. A contributor may make a fifty dollarcontribution to the sub-campaign. The provider 101 may then update boththe campaign thermometer in field 182 and the sub-campaign thermometerin field 186. Although the fifty dollar contribution would notsignificantly alter the campaign thermometer, such a contribution may bevisible on the sub-campaign thermometer in the copy owner's widget.Thus, further contributions are facilitated. Consequently, electronicfinancial transactions may be facilitated.

Data related to contributions through the widgets 122, 132, 142, 152,122A, 122B, 122C, 132A, 132B, 132C, 132D, 132E, 142A, 142B, 142C, and142D may also be tracked. As discussed above, in one embodimentpayments, for example for electronic commerce or fundraising, may bemade through any of the widgets 122, 132, 142, 152, 122A, 122B, 122C,132A, 132B, 132C, 132D, 132E, 142A, 142B, 142C, and 142D. Variousaspects of payments made and other features of the widgets 122, 132,142, 152, 122A, 122B, 122C, 132A, 132B, 132C, 132D, 132E, 142A, 142B,142C, and 142D may be tracked. For example, the number and amount ofpayments made through a widget and/or its copies, the number of visitsto the widget and/or its copies, the time the widget and/or its copieshave been available, the amount of time taken by the widget and/or itscopies to receive donations, user comments, and other data related tothe widget may also be tracked by the provider 101. This tracking mightbe performed by the tracking and payment subsystem 104 or anothercomponent (not shown). As a result, the provider 101 may determine aneffectiveness for various sites 120, 130, 140, 150, 120A, 120B, 120C,130A, 130B, 130C, 130D, 130E, 140A, 140B, 140C, and 102D and/or widgets122, 132, 142, 152, 122A, 122B, 122C, 132A, 132B, 132C, 132D, 132E,142A, 142B, 142C, and 142D. In one embodiment, an effectivenesspercentage is determined based upon the number of views of a widget 122,132, 142, 152, 122A, 122B, 122C, 132A, 132B, 132C, 132D, 132E, 142A,142B, 142C, and/or 142D, the number of donors through the widget 122,132, 142, 152, 122A, 122B, 122C, 132A, 132B, 132C, 132D, 132E, 142A,142B, 142C, and/or 142D, the average contribution per donor, theaggregate donation through the widget 122, 132, 142, 152, 122A, 122B,122C, 132A, 132B, 132C, 132D, 132E, 142A, 142B, 142C, and/or 142D, andanalogous data for copies of the widget 122, 132, 142, 152, 122A, 122B,122C, 132A, 132B, 132C, 132D, 132E, 142A, 142B, 142C, and/or 142D. Basedon this effectiveness percentage, organizers may determine the contentproviders that are desired for particular campaigns.

Although the widgets 122, 132, 142, 152, 122A, 122B, 122C, 132A, 132B,132C, 132D, 132E, 142A, 142B, 142C, and 142D may be copied, pushed toother sites, sub-campaigns or other subsets of interest formed,customized, these and other dissemination of the original widgets 122,132, 142, and 152 may be moderated. Moderation allows the widget ownerto control the sites with which their widget, event, and the widgetowner themselves are associated. For example, the widget owner mayauthorize only specific sites and/or sites fitting a particular profileto host the widget 122, 132, 142, and/or 152. The provider 101 does notpush the widget to sites not authorized by the organizer. If anunauthorized content provider or other unauthorized user copies thewidget 122, 132, 142, and/or 152, then action may be taken based uponthe widget owner's preferences. For example, when the unauthorizedcopier's site is accessed, the provider 101 may send a message to thewidget owner requesting validation. In some embodiments, the widget maynot be rendered until the widget owner has expressly approved for thesite. Alternatively, the widget may be rendered unless and until thewidget owner has expressly disapproved the site.

The widgets 180 may also reflect local data. The widget 122, 132, 142,152, 122A, 122B, 122C, 132A, 132B, 132C, 132D, 132E, 142A, 142B, 142C,and/or 142D may be provided to multiple sites in a variety of ways, suchas copies of widgets from the widget owner's site 120, copies of widgets132 from provider's site 130, and copies of widgets from other contentprovider's (copier's) sites. In one embodiment, the widget 122, 132,142, 152, 122A, 122B, 122C, 132A, 132B, 132C, 132D, 132E, 142A, 142B,142C, and/or 142D may be configured to account for at least some ofthese local conditions. For example, the field 182 may display thedonations using the local currency and indicate relevant times using thelocal time. In order to do so, the widget 180 may query the localcomputer system hosting the site to obtain local data, such as the timeand/or language. The widget 180 may then convert various components toreflect the local data. For example, the language may be translated tothe local language and/or the time of relevant occurrences such as theevent ending may be updated to reflect the local time.

The widgets 180 may also be reusable. The widget 180 may be copiedand/or pushed to sites. Once a widget 180 resides on a site, it mayremain on the site unless and until expressly removed by the site owneror the provider 101. Furthermore, data may be pushed to widgets 122,132, 142, 152, 122A, 122B, 122C, 132A, 132B, 132C, 132D, 132E, 142A,142B, 142C, and 142D by the provider 101. A widget 180 may be generallyassociated with particular event(s) that have specific closing dates,such as a fundraising campaign, a wedding, a birthday, an ad campaign,or other event. Once the event closes or for some other reason thewidget 180 is no longer associated with the event, the widget 180 may beavailable for reuse. The widget 180 may be reused by the provider 101pushing data to the widget 180 and/or by the owner of the widget 180re-customizing the widget 180 for new events. For example, whenconfiguring the widget 180, a widget owner may indicate that once anevent has closed, specific content is to be pushed to the associatedwidgets. This content could be a thank you message, an indication ofother events that may be of interest to the content provider, orsettings that reconfigure the widget 180 for another event. Similarly, awidget owner might reconfigure the widget 180 to be associated withanother event or indicate to the provider 101 that the widget 180 may bereused for other events meeting certain criteria. In one embodiment,these types of reuse may be possible for both the ancestor widget andits copies. The provider 101 may push new settings and parameters to thewidgets 122, 132, 142, 152, 122A, 122B, 122C, 132A, 132B, 132C, 132D,132E, 142A, 142B, 142C, and 142D residing on other sites based on widgetowners' specifications. A widget owner might specify that the widget 180on its site is available for causes fitting particular profiles. Forexample, the owner of the widget 142D may specify that only certain adcampaigns or other data may be pushed to its widget. In one embodiment,these specifications must also fit within specifications provided byowners of the ancestor widgets 142 and 142A. The provider 101 may thenpush data to the widget 142D on the site 140D to reuse the widget 142Dfor events or other data fitting the profiles. The owner of the site140D and/or widget 142D may be paid or otherwise rewarded for use and/orreuse of the widget 142D on the site 140.

The widget 180 may also “mature” and increase in value to both thewidget owner and his/her audience. For example, assume that the widget180 is a copy (e.g. widget 122A, 122B, or 122C) of another widget (e.g.122), associated with a particular entity such as a business, and/orprovides content from another entity. In such an embodiment, the system100 may be used in affiliate marketing. The widget 180 may be used inaffiliate marketing to dynamically display form, content, andfunctionality based on the cumulative actions taken by previous visitorsduring the life of the campaign, as well as on actions taken by thecurrent visitor, and based on the rules, logic, and settings defined bythe promoter, the organizer, and, optionally, the provider 101. Thus,for each action taken, the widget 180 may be dynamically modified ifeither the promoter (widget owner) or organizer (entity associated withthe marketing campaign) set up a rule to modify the widget. For example,a visitor clicks through and makes a contribution to a non-profit. Thewidget 180 might be updated by a setting such as: adding the visitor'scontribution amount to a campaign goal both visually in a graph andtextually the number of contributors can be increased by one or postingthe name or initials of the latest contributor on the widget. Suchchanges may be displayed in the field 182, 184, and/or 198. If a visitorcontributes the final incremental amount needed to meet a campaign goal,the widget 180 might be updated to show a success image, to not acceptany more click through for donations, to provide a special thank youmessage can appear, and/or have the widget's the look and feel changed.Other examples may be found in voter registration, mailing lists, orpurchasing. A visitor may click through and complete a form such as anonline voter registration form. In response, the widget 180 may bechanged to show that one more person has taken the requested action. Avisitor who clicks through and signs up for a mailing list may be theone thousandth person to do so from this widget 180. The widget 180 maybe changed to now add a video/audio file that only shows up on widgets180 that drive at least one thousand signups. A visitor clicks whothrough and makes a purchase may be the one hundredth purchaser throughthis widget 180. The widget 180 may now show a twenty percent discountmessage and content. Moreover, all future purchasers may receive thesame discount. The types of actions, content changes, form changes, linkchanges, and element changes are not limited to the examples above.Rather the promoter and the organizer have free control over the rulesto apply to actions taken by visitors. These rules, settings, andcontent may be configured and controlled via a Control Panel, such asthe widget panel 112 discussed above.

Similarly, as the number of actions recorded from the widget 180increases, the widget 180 may take on increased functionality and/orallow for a higher level of reward and/or recognition from the owner ofthe ancestor widget or other entity to which data on the widgetcorresponds. The audience for the widget 180 may share in the value byeither having a better experience (due to the increasedfeatures/functions on the widget 180) or share in promotions/discountspassed on by the owner of the ancestor widget or other entity to whichdata on the widget corresponds. The increase in value (throughfunctionality or other features) of the widget 180, as well as theevent(s) and/or actions triggering an increase in maturity may becontrolled all or in part by the owner of the ancestor widget or otherentity to which data on the widget corresponds. These actions may alsoprovide valuable data mining to the owner of the ancestor widget orother entity to which data on the widget corresponds. These entities maywish to track how social networks interact with content and actions. Forexample, in affiliate marketing applications, the method and system mayprovide significant advantages including but not limited to increasedvalue to not only the organizer, but also the promoter and thepromoter's audience.

Thus, using the system 100 and the widget 180, electronic transactionsmay be facilitated. Such transactions may include financial transactionsand social transaction. Benefits may be provided to the widget owner,the owner(s) of copies of the widget and other providers, as well asusers/viewers of the widget.

A natural application for the system 100 is in financial transactions.For example, the system 100 may be used in various events, suchcampaigns. A campaign may include a fundraising campaign, an advertisingcampaign, a sale of particular goods and/or services, or othercommercial activities.

FIG. 3 depicts an exemplary embodiment of a method 200 for providing awidget usable in transactions such as affiliate marketing. The widgetdynamically displays multimedia content and may be used in performingthe marketing transactions, particularly affiliate marketing. The widgetmay also be embeddable, portable and copyable. The method 200 allows awidget to be configured. For simplicity, the method 200 is described inthe context of the widget 122A depicted in FIG. 1 as well as the widget180 depicted in FIG. 2. However, the method 200 also applies to theremaining widgets 122, 122B, 122C, 132, 132A, 132B, 132C, 132D, 132E,142, 142A, 142B, 142C, 142D, and 152. In addition, although steps of themethod 200 are depicted as occurring in a particular order, one or moreof the steps may be performed in another order, in parallel, or multipletimes.

Referring to FIGS. 1-3 the widget 122A is rendered on a site, via step202. The widget 122A rendered is based upon a configuration provided,for example to the widget maker 102. The configuration includescampaign(s) with which the widget 122A is associated. The widget 122Amay thus dynamically display multimedia content associated withcampaign(s) on the site 120A. The widget 122A is also embeddable andcopyable. In one embodiment, the campaign(s) may be marketingcampaign(s), such as affiliate marketing. In another embodiment, thecampaign(s) may be related to the widgets themselves. For example acampaign may provide personal widgets, described below. Furthermore, thewidget 122A allows user actions to be performed. As used herein, a userof the widget 122A is a viewer of the widget 122A. For example whenvisiting the site 120A, a user may view the content on the widget 1222Aand may use the widget 122A to perform various tasks. The user actionsperformed may be varied. Examples of such user actions includes clickthroughs to other site(s) associated with the campaign(s), acontribution that may be to a charity associated with the campaign(s),other proof that a specific site was visited such as a token from thesite or a confirmation from a payment page, making a copy of the widget122A, or other actions of interest to the campaign(s). The campaign alsoincludes goals associated with the widget 122A, such as a particularnumber of sales or a particular number of widget views.

In one embodiment, the widget 122A rendered in step 202 is owned by anentity other than the organizer of the campaign. For example, the widget122 may be configured by the organizer and provided by the organizer onthe organizer's site 120. However, the widget 122A rendered in step 202might be a copy of the widget 122 and might reside on a different site120A. The widget owner, or promoter, placing the widget 122A on the site120A may be an independent entity wishing to monetize or otherwise berewarded for providing the widget 122A. This widget 122A may, but neednot, have been modified by its owner. If the campaign is an affiliatemarketing campaign, at least some of the widgets rendered in step 202are desired to be owned by other entities.

Input(s) related to the action(s) are received, via step 204. In oneembodiment, the input(s) and action(s) are also related to thecampaign(s). For example, the system 100 may register that a user hasclicked on a button 188, 192, and/or 194, copied code such as the widgetcode in copying field 190, or made a payment through field 192. Theclick may take the user to another site on which the user may performother tasks. The click through to the other site or the tasks performedthere might also be considered input received in step 204. In such anembodiment, the input received may be from the site accessed through thewidget 122A. For example the site could include embedded code fortracking the inputs received. In another embodiment, the input couldinclude a request to copy the widget 122A and/or modifications to thecopy. Such a task would indicate that the widget 122A is beingdisseminated, for example to the site 120B and/or 120C. Thus, the inputreceived in step 204 indicates that the action(s) have been taken.

Based on the goal(s) corresponding to the action(s) taken, the widget122A may be dynamically updated, via step 206. In particular, if theupdate may be provided in step 206 in response to the goal beingfulfilled. For example, suppose a goal is to have a particular number ofwidget views. In such an embodiment, the update may be dynamicallyprovided if the particular number of widget views is reached. Step 206may thus be performed in response to the input received in step 206being tracked, aggregated or otherwise processed and compared to goalsfor the widget 122A and/or campaign. In one embodiment, step 206includes changing the configuration of the widget 122A stored in thedatabase 108. The update performed in step 206 may change theconfiguration of the widget 122A in a variety of ways. In oneembodiment, the look of the widget 122 may be changed by changing thecolor, changing the multimedia provided, altering the features, and/orproviding additional feature(s). These rewards may, but need not, have aspecific monetary value. The additional features might includeadditional multimedia content such as new video or audio, access to anadditional uniform resource identifier (URI), a discount, a prize, aprivilege, an additional function, payment to the widget owner, and/orrecognition for the widget. The prizes and privileges may include guestpasses to concerts or movies, tickets, access to content such as moviesor their trailers prior to public release. These features may beprovided to the owner of the widget 122A and/or users of the widget122A. The update described herein may include rewards such as the aboveprivileges and prizes in that the user and/or widget owner may beinformed of the existence of the rewards through the update in theconfiguration.

Thus, using the method 200 the widget 122, 122A, 122B, 122C, 132, 132A,132B, 132C, 132D, 132E, 142, 142A, 142B, 142C, 142D, and 152 may beprovided, used to perform various actions, and dynamically updated.These updates may be used to reward the widget owner, the users, and/orthe site owner for reaching particular goals. For example, a discountprovided for a purchase through a widget 122A or additional contentviewable via a particular widget 122A may reward both the widget ownerand any user making a purchase or viewing the widget 122A. Consequently,the widget 122A may grow in popularity. As a result, the widget 122A maybe further disseminated through copies and/or viewed on its site 120A.Because the widget 122A is associated with a campaign, informationrelated to the campaign may reach a greater audience. Consequently, themethod 200 may facilitate affiliate marketing. In addition, the method200 may allow users to obtain customized user widgets that may betradable and made more desirable due to the updates. Thepromoters/widget owners may also be able to monetize or otherwisecapitalize on their site 120A through the widget 122A hosted on it. Inaddition, data related to and actions performed by the users and/orowners of the widgets in the method 200 may be tracked. Consequently,data mining may also be facilitated through the widgets of the method200.

FIG. 4 depicts another exemplary embodiment of a method 210 forproviding a widget usable in transactions such as affiliate marketing.The widget dynamically displays multimedia content and may be used inperforming the marketing transactions, particularly affiliate marketing.The widget may also be embeddable, portable and copyable. The method 210allows a widget to be configured and disseminated. For simplicity, themethod 200 is described in the context of the widget 122 depicted inFIG. 1 as well as the widget 180 depicted in FIG. 2. However, the method210 also applies to the remaining widgets 122A, 122B, 122C, 132, 132A,132B, 132C, 132D, 132E, 142, 142A, 142B, 142C, 142D, and 152. Inaddition, although steps of the method 210 are depicted as occurring ina particular order, one or more of the steps may be performed in anotherorder, in parallel, or multiple times.

Referring to FIGS. 1-2 and 4, the organizer of the campaign configuresthe campaign and the widget 122 associated with the campaign, via step212. To do so, the organizer may access portions of the provider 101.Step 212 may include setting features of the campaign such as the goodsinvolved in a marketing campaign, target users, desired traits of usersand/or promoters/widget owners, and desired widget owners/promoters, andgoals for the actions. In addition, features of the widget 122 areconfigured. Thus, the fields 182, 184, 186, 188, 190, 192, 194, 196, and198 that might be included, the widget color, multimedia provided,restrictions on modifications made to copies of the widget 122, desireduser actions, tracking of the desired user actions, and other aspects ofthe widget 122 are configured. In addition, updates provided in responseto goals being reached and the actions to which the goals correspond arealso determined in step 212. For example, certain updates may beprovided based on goals for specific user actions, such as a singlycopying of the widget 122, while other updates may be provided inresponse to aggregate actions, such as a total number of times aparticular widget is copied. Thus, the organizer configures the campaignand original widget 122. In the embodiment discussed, the organizer ofthe campaign and owner of the widget 122 are the same. However, inanother embodiment, different entities may be associated with thecampaign and the widget 122.

The widget 122 is published to the desired site(s) based on theconfiguration of the widget 122 and the selections made by theorganizer, via step 214. Step 214 may be considered analogous to thestep 202 of the method 200. In one embodiment, step 214 includesrendering the widget 122 on the site 120. Step 214 might also includepushing the widget 122 to additional sites, such as the site 120A. Theseadditional sites may correspond to widget owners identified by theorganizer as desirable for the campaign. In one embodiment, step 214includes allowing the widget 122 to be copied, for example to the site120A, 120B, and/or 120C. In such an embodiment, step 214 may alsoinclude allowing a copy 122A of the widget 122 to be copied. In such anembodiment, moderation may be performed as part of step 214 to ensurethat copies of the widget 122 are only provided on desired sites and/orowned by desired promoters. Such modifications may include the widgetowner/promoter configuring a sub-campaign. Examples of a sub-campaignmay include a sub-campaign to obtain additional financial contributionsor sign-ups for a service or other program. However, modification of thecopies may also be restricted based upon the configuration determined instep 212. In one embodiment, rendering the widget in step 212 may beperformed for each request to view the widget. Thus, rendering mightinclude a host application such as a browser requesting a widget 122when the site is viewed; the code and other data for the widget 122being accessed for example from the database 108; the code for thewidget 122 being returned to the host application and played; the widget122 requesting its content, or widget feed; and the widget feed beingprovided to the widget 122, for example by the provider 101.

Input(s) related to the action(s) are received, via step 216. Stateddifferently, the widgets published in step 214 may be viewed and used toperform various tasks in step 216. Step 216 is thus analogous to step204 of the method 200. User actions taken through the widget 122 aretracked and it is determined whether the goal(s) are fulfilled, via step218. Step 218 may include tracking individual user actions as well asaggregates of the user actions, as described above. Step 218 may also beperformed in a variety of ways that use the input received in step 216.For example, the action may be set by providing the uniform resourceidentifier(s) (URI(s)) a visitor reaches when they have completed thespecified action. In addition, step 216 may make use of embedded code ina desired site to receive an input from a user. Step 218 may use theinput from the embedded code to determine the number of views of thesite or proof that a particular user has accessed the site. In oneembodiment, the organizer selects a type of code snippet (such asJavaScript, IMG tag, or other code) that will be used to track aspecified action. The organizer may embed this code snippet into thesites to which the organizer is directing traffic and which theOrganizer has sufficient control over to embed the code. Alternatively,the code snippet may be pushed to selected sites, for example by theprovider 101. The code may be used with no modification or might bedynamic. For dynamic code snippets, the organizer embeds additionalinformation about the action such as the purchase price or the name of acontributor to the code snippet in real time so that informationspecific to an action gets passed on to the provider for datacompilation.

Step 216 may also use inputs provided by a particular widget 122A, forexample a user clicking on a particular field or provide information tothe field. Step 218 may then use this input to track the number of clickthroughs, a number of sign-ups for the campaign or other data ofinterest. It may also be determined if goals such as the click throughs,copies of a widget, or sign-ups reaching a particular number, are met.In one embodiment, user actions corresponding to copies of the widget122 may also be tracked. In such an embodiment, the relationship betweenthe copies and the ancestor widget(s) may be tracked and used, forexample to determine how to categorize updates, calculate aggregates,and determine whether goal(s) are met.

Based on whether the goals are fulfilled for the action(s) taken, thewidget(s) may be updated, via step 220. Step 220 is thus analogous tostep 206 of the method 200. In one embodiment, step 220 includesdetermining whether the tracked actions have fulfilled some condition(s)corresponding to the goal(s). Thus, step 220 may be considered to employconditional logic. For example, it may be determined whether the clickthroughs from a particular widget 122A have reached a threshold in step220. If so, then an update such as additional content, discounts onpurchases through the widget 122A, a payment directly to the owner ofthe widget 122A, or other response may be provided in step 220. If not,then tracking may simply continue.

Some or all of the widgets may be re-published, via step 222. In oneembodiment, step 222 may include re-rendering all of the widgetscorresponding to the widget 122. In another embodiment, only a portionof the widgets may be re-rendered. For example, only those widgets beingupdated might be re-published in step 222. Thus, updates such asrewards, privileges, payments to the promoter, and discounts may be madeavailable in step 222.

Thus, using the method 210 the widget 122, 122A, 122B, 122C, 132, 132A,132B, 132C, 132D, 132E, 142, 142A, 142B, 142C, 142D, and 152 may beprovided, used to perform various actions, and updated in response togoals being reached. These updates may be used to reward the widgetowner, the users, and/or the site owner. Consequently, the widgetsassociated with a campaign may grow in popularity. Effectiveness of thecampaign may thus be improved. In addition, the method 200 may allowusers to obtain customized user widgets that may be tradable and mademore desirable due to the updates. Tracking of actions through suchwidget may also improve data mining. Such data may be useful toadvertisers and other entities.

FIG. 5 depicts an exemplary embodiment of a system 230 for providing awidget usable in transactions, such as affiliate marketing. The system230 is analogous to portions of the system 100. The system 230 thusincludes a provider 231 analogous to the provider 101, a widget maker232 that may be analogous to the widget maker 102, a database 234analogous to the database 108, a widget editor 236 that may be analogousto a portion of the widget maker 102, a server 238 analogous to aportion of the provider 101, organizer interface 239 that may beprovided by the server 238, and sites 240, 250, and 260. For clarity,only the sites 240, 250, and 260 and widgets 242, 252, and 262 aredescribed. However, in another embodiment, additional sites and/orwidgets may be used. Further, the sites 240, 250, and 260 may beconsidered to correspond to one or more of the sites 120, 130, 140, 150,12A, 120B, 120C, 130A, 130B, 130C, 130D, 130E, 140, 140B, 140C, and140D. Although shown separately, the widget maker 232 and widget editor236 may be implemented using the server 238.

The organizer interface, or control panel, 239 may be used by theorganizer to set various features of the campaign. In one embodiment,the organizer control panel 239 may be part of a widget panel (notshown) provided by the widget maker 232. In such an embodiment,configuration of the widget in connection with the campaign may befacilitated. Thus, the organizer may set the campaign parameters. Forexample, the organizer may set the campaign information, overallcampaign goals, goals for the action(s) taken through the widgets,financial information, content, business rules, marketing rules, richmedia files, payment information, links to external sources of campaigninformation, commission information, moderation rules (approvedpromoters who can post widget), and other data that would be needed fora dynamic campaign. In one embodiment, the organizer may change theseparameters at anytime during a campaign. In such an embodiment, initialconfiguration and modification of the campaign may both be achievedthrough the control panel 239. Alternatively, modification of thecampaign might be accomplished through a different mechanism (notshown). In one embodiment, the organizer might use the control panel 239to create draft campaigns and at a later time move draft campaigns intolive campaigns. As part of campaign configuration, the organizer mightdetermine a date and/or set of conditions at which a campaign will end.In one embodiment, campaigns may also be ended early or suspendedindefinitely or until a later date through the control panel 239.Campaigns may also be tied to end based on actions such as a finitenumber of sign ups, a specified dollar volume of actions, or otheroccurrences.

In addition to configuring the campaign, an organizer may also configureat least a portion of their site 240 using the control panel 239. Forexample, embedded code 244 used in tracking actions on the site 240might be provided using the control panel. In one embodiment, otherfeatures of the site such as colors, video, audio, images and othercontent may be configured using the control panel 239. In anotherembodiment, other configuration of the site 240 might be provided usinganother mechanism (not shown).

The widget maker 232 might used by the organizer of the campaign toconfigure the widget 242. In addition, the updates provided in responseto the goals, or conditions, being fulfilled may be provided through thewidget maker 232 instead of the control panel 239. In the embodimentshown, the widget 242 is provided on the organizer's site 240. However,in an alternate embodiment, the widget 240 might not be provided on thesite. Instead, the widget 240 would be made available in another mannersuch as pushing the widget 252 and 262 to desired sites 250 and 260,respectively. Because the widget 242 is initially generated using thewidget maker 222, the widget 242A is shown on the widget maker 232. Whenconfiguring the widget 242, the organizer uses the widget maker 232 tomake selections for the widget 242. For example, the widget owner maychoose the color, actions of interest to the campaign, contentpresented, other selections that determine the look and feel of thewidget 242, as well as the modifiability of copies of the widget 242. Inone embodiment, the organizer may also determine the effect of the endof the campaign on the widget 242. For example, the organizer mayindicate that the widget 242 and/or copies are disabled. Alternatively,the organizer might make the widget 242 and/or copies reusable. Thus,the widget maker 232 operates in an analogous manner to the widget maker102.

The database 234 stores data 246 related to the widget 242. The database234 may also store data (not shown) related to are copies of the widget242 separately or with the data 246. The data 246 may include, amongother information, the code corresponding to the widget 242, informationrelated to the widget owner/organizer, information related to thecampaign, and other information related to the widget 242. For example,the database 234 may store the actions to be tracked, how the actionsare to be tracked, the goals for the action(s), and the updates providedin response to the actions. The database 234 may also store rulescorresponding to conditional logic for determining whether the goalshave been fulfilled and, therefore, whether the updates should beprovided. Thus, the data 246 may include any rules, conditions, actions,and/or parameters to which the widget 242 is subject. In addition, thedata 240 might be later modified using the widget maker 232 or thewidget editor 236.

The widget editor 236 may be used to modify copies of the widget 242. Inone embodiment, the widget editor 236 is separate from the widget maker232. In such an embodiment, the widget editor 236 may perform a subsetof the functions of the widget editor 232. In another embodiment, thewidget editor 232 may be part of the widget maker 232. Although shown ascorresponding to the provider 231, the widget editor 236 may be hostedby another entity (not shown). For example, a widget editor 236 hostedby another entity may be used to modify a copy of the widget 242 andpost the copy to another site (not shown) associated with the entity.

The widget 242, 252, and 262 are provided on sites 240, 250, and 260,respectively, using the server 238. Thus, the code for the widgets 242,252, and 262 is accessed from the database 234 and placed on thecorresponding sites 240, 250, and 260, respectively. In order to providethe widgets 242/252/262 on the site 240/250/260, a widget player (notseparately shown) that shares code in common with the widget maker 222may be used. Such a widget player executes the embeddable code for thewidget 242/252/262. Consequently, the widget player and widget242/252/262 may be used synonymously herein. When published on the site230/240/250, the widget 242/252/262 may access the data 246 and/or otherdata (not shown), for example through the server 238. In addition, theserver 238 may be used to track data such relating to the widget242/252/262. For example, progress of the campaign, updates to thewidget 242/252/262, actions of viewers of the widget 242/252/262, othercharacteristics of the widget, aggregates of actions or other data, aswell as other data may be tracked by the server 238. Such data may bestored on the database 234 and provided to the widget 242/252/262, forexample in the form of a status bar or thermometer used as a trackingmechanism. In addition, the server 238 may determine whether the goalscorresponding to the widget 242/252/262 have been fulfilled. In analternate embodiment, the widget 242/252/262 may perform at least someof the tracking of actions and/or the determination of whether thecorresponding goal(s) have been fulfilled.

In addition, to the mechanisms described above, the system 230 mayprovide tracking via technology such as cookies. In one embodiment, whena visitor clicks through a widget 252, the visitor may be directed tothe server(s) 238. This click through may be an action which is trackedand might result in fulfillment of goal(s) and receipt of the attendantupdate(s). The server(s) 238 may set a cookie on the visitor's computer(not shown) that embeds both the promoter's identification and acampaign identification then redirects the visitor to the destination asset by the organizer. The visitor, now on the desired site, interactswith the site as he or she sees fit. When the action that the organizerwants tracked (for instance a contribution to a campaign) occurs, theembedded code, such as the code 244, that the organizer seeded onto aconfirmation page makes a call back to the server(s) 238 to record theaction, any desired data about the action, and information about thepromoter, organizer, and visitor. In this embodiment, therefore,tracking may be performed using cookie technology.

The widgets 252 and 262 are copies of the widget 242. The discussionbelow presumes that the owner of the site 250/260 is the owner of thewidget 252/262. However, common ownership is not required. The widgets252 and 262 may have been copied by the owner of the site 250 and 260,respectively, or may have been pushed to the sites 250 and 260,respectively. The widgets 252 and 262 share at least some of theproperties of the widget 242 configured by the organizer. In particular,at least some of the action(s) tracked, goals for the action(s) andupdates provided by the organizer are common to the widgets 242, 252,and 262.

Using the system 230, the organizer may set conditional goals to trackand reward with updates. The tracking may be based on actions such aswidget views (number of times users view a particular widget242/252/262), unique widget views (number of times different users viewa particular widget 242/252/262), sites views, number of click throughs,or an aggregate of a number of specified actions taken. The conditionalgoals set by the organizer may be used to dynamically update the widget242/252/262 as the goals are met. The widgets 242, 252, and/or 262 maybe modified to look different, include different content, or offerpromotions. Such updates may benefit both users and widget owners. Theupdates based on fulfillment of the goals might also benefit the widgetowner. Such updates might include a reward of points, revenue sharing,and recognition on a list of top widgets.

The updates may also be based on a point system. The organizer may setup a points system based on performance of each specific widget242/252/262 in their campaign. As part of configuring the campaign usingthe control panel 239 and/or the widget 242 using the widget maker 232,the organizer may determine how points are accumulated and at whatinterval. For example, points may be awarded based on a number of widgetviews or the number of actions taken by user/visitor within a specifiedamount of time. Stated differently, tracking of the actions may beperformed through the points provided for specific actions. These pointsmay be awarded to the widget owner to be redeemed for organizer prizesand privileges (tickets, guest passes, and additional content). As partof the point system, the organizer may also set promotion levels forrewarding points for referral signups. If a visitor signs up for anorganizer widget 242 through a promoter's widget 252, then both theexisting promoter 252 and new promoter (not shown) may receive bonuspoints. The organizer may also set up different widget types based ongoals achieved as measured by points. The system 230 may thus serve upthe different widget types based on the accumulated value gained by eachpromoter's widget 252/262. For example a movie fan widget may obtainenough points to be updated to include a tab showing new movie trailers24 hours before they are released to the public. The widget having thetab may be considered to be a new type of the widget. Thus, the system200 may provide rewards to both users and promoters.

In order to improve the ability of the system 200 to function, thecampaign configured using the control panel 239 may also be promoted tomore than just potential viewers. In particular, the provider 101 andthe organizer may promote this campaign to potential promoters. In oneembodiment, potential promoters, such as the owners of widgets 252/262and/or sites 250/260, may be directed to the provider's or promoter'ssite, live Widgets for the campaign hosted by promoters, through pagesset up by the organizer, and/or through other mechanisms. Based onmoderation rules set up by through provider 131, promoters may beallowed to request permission to take part in the campaign. For example,promoters may desire to become widget owners and request to copy thewidget 242 and host the copy 252/262 on their site 250/260. If thecampaign is moderated, the promoter may be required to wait for approvalfrom the moderating authority(ies). One embodiment of providingmoderation of the widgets is discussed above. The moderatingauthority(ies) may include the provider 231, the organizer, and/or athird party. As part of moderation, the provider 231 or the organizermay request that specific information such as destination URI,information about the promoter, statistics about the promoter'sdestination URI, or other pertinent information be provided as part ofthe request to take part in a campaign.

Once approved, the promoter/owner of widget 242/252 may be allowed tomodify their widget 242/252 through the widget editor 236. For example,a promoter may set up a sub-campaign through their account with theprovider, through the control panel 239 or the widget editor 236. Thepromoter may set up specific parameters related to their sub-campaign.However, any such modifications to the copies 252/262 might requireapproval of the organizer/owner of widget 242. For example, an organizermay allow a promoter to use a custom title, end date, target amount toraise, and number of target widget page views. An organizer may alsoallow a promoter to modify the size, content, colors, graphics, richmedia, functionality, features, and other aspects of the widget 252/262.For example, a promoter may be allowed to use a custom image backdrop ona widget 252/262. As a result, the widgets 252/262 may promote the samecampaign, but have their own look and feel.

In one embodiment, when a user views a widget 252/262, the widget252/262 makes a call to the server(s) 238 to obtain the latest widgetfeed. In one embodiment, each widget 242/252/262 pulls data from aunique widget feed customized for the campaign and/or sub-campaignconfigured by the organizer and/or widget owner. Based on the contentsof the widget feed and the parameters set by the provider 231, thepromoter, and the organizer, the widget 252/262 is displayedaccordingly. A widget 242/252/262 may also check for an update to thedata feed after a certain interval, for example every few seconds. If avisitor is viewing a widget 242/252/262 and the widget 242/252/262receives a changed widget feed (e.g. an update) based on an action, thewidget 242/252/262 may be re-rendered based on the new information. Forexample, suppose a donation from another visitor went through the widget242 and was confirmed. The campaign raised amount could be increased bythe amount of that donation. For every view of the widget 252, a callmay be made by the widget 252 to the server 238 to log that page viewand all relevant data about that page view. Such data may include clientIP address, campaign ID, Promoter ID, date, time, URI, and otherinformation. The widget 252 may be displayed to each view including thenew campaign amount. Similar procedures may be followed for otherupdates to the widget based upon fulfillment of goals. A widget 252 mayalso show a particular state of the campaign such as suspended, active,or end of campaign with each state showing customizable messages.

As discussed above, the system 230 may use various mechanisms to trackactions and determine whether the organizer's goal(s) have been met.Once the action and data are logged, the server(s) 238 update thedatabase 234 which control the widget feed sent to the widget242/252/262. The specific widget feed for a sub-campaign is updated andall subsequent widget calls to the provider 231 to get the latest widgetfeed are subsequently be re-rendered based on the updated data logged asa result of the visitor's action(s).

In the system 230, each widget 242/252/262 may also gain “value” asmeasured with respect to the goals set by the organizer. For example, awidget 252 corresponding to actions that have fulfilled more goals orare closer to fulfilling more goals may have a higher value than awidget 262 that corresponding to actions that has fulfilled fewer goals.In one embodiment, this value can be passed on to the audience when thewidget is dynamically updated. For example, enhanced features on thewidget may include new video, audio, sneak previews of movie trailers oradditional value offered for an action taken by the visitor notavailable to all campaign widgets. Promoters may also gain points asdescribed above.

The system 230 may also be used in the data mining described above. Adetailed report of action(s) taken and other occurrences related to thecampaign may be available to organizers. Similarly, while a subset ofthat report may be made available to the promoter/widget owner(s)associated with sub-campaigns. Information included in the report mayinclude information per widget 242/252/262, as well as other informationsuch as promoter, audience, or other information. Information per widget242/252/262 may include items such as a number of widgets posted,locations of widgets posted for example by IP or reverse IP lookup,number of widget views by individual widgets, number of determinedaction taken, number of click through, number of new signups fromwidget, number of tab views of individual tabs within the widget. Suchdata may be valuable to organizers or other entities for use inmarketing or other activities.

A subset of this system 230 used in affiliate marketing might also beused to allow individuals to create customized personal widgets. Aswidget owners, the individuals may be allowed to perform the functionsdescribed herein for widget owners. In such an application, anindividual may create an account on the system 230 and configures acorresponding widget, such as the widget 252. The account may includeidentification information for the widget owner, such as name and emailaddress, as well as for the widget. Such information may be providedthrough the control panel 239 or widget maker 232 and stored in thedatabase 234. Alternatively, the widget owner might sign up from anexisting widget, such as the widget 242, that allows direct sign ups, orby clicking through from another widget. During customization using thewidget maker 232, the individual may select features of their widget 252in a manner analogous to that which an organizer uses. An individualmight give permission for other users to selectively modify parts ofcopies of their widget 252 or the widget 252 itself. For example, thismay be accomplished by other individuals (not shown) logging in directlyon the widget 252 and having access to modify certain parts or tabs. Aspart of the configuration process, an individual might select whethertheir widget 252 is listed on a public widget directly on the provider231 or system(s). An individual may also create a customized personalwidget by selecting from an assortment of options: size, color,decorations, content, forms, tabs, features, or other characteristics ofthe widget that may be provided by the widget maker 232.

Various applications of the system 230 may also be combined. Forexample, the personal widgets described above and the point system mightbe combined. In one such embodiment, if an individual signs up directlyon a site (not shown) hosted by the provider 231, the individual maygiven a certain number of points as determined by the system 230. Thesepoints may be redeemed for add-ons for the personal widget such asdecorations, additional tabs, features such as audio/video, customcontent. However, the customization of this new widget 242/252/262 maybe limited by the number of points a new user is given. If an individualis referred to create an account by an existing personal widget242/252/262, both the new user and existing user may receive apromotional bonus of points to be redeemed for widget customizations. Anindividual may also select to have their widget sponsored by one of theprovider's partner(s) so as to receive additional points forcustomization. By being a sponsored widget 242/252/262 the individualmay be limited in/constrained against making certain customizations tothe widget and also agree to share their widget information with thepartner.

An individual user may able be able to modify/edit and otherwise controlsuch a widget 242/252/262 in multiple ways. For example, an individualmay login in to the system 230 and use the widget editor 236. The usermay also be allowed to modify their widget 242/252/262, for example viaforms embedded directly in the widget that connect back to theprovider's server(s). The user may also be able to modify their widget242/252/262 via mobile devices, SMS codes, MMS codes, telephony, and/orother devices. In addition, modification through other methods that canpass information to the widget provider's system, including email, mayalso be allowed. An individual user may also be allowed to set upmoderation levels for their widget 242/252/262. For example, anindividual user may select no moderation, allowing anyone to copy andpaste the widget anywhere, or some level of moderation between. Thewidget owner might select pre-approved moderation to allow certainfriends as defined, for example, by address book preferences (e.g. emailaddresses) provided to the system 231, having an account on the provider231, standing/rating on the provider 231, and/or predetermined domains(where the widget will be placed). The user may also select individualmoderation in which an individual moderates each request to copy theirindividual widget 242/252/262 and approve/disapproves/holds each copiedwidget 242/252/262. Promotion of individual custom widget may also beallowed. In one embodiment, the audience for a site 250 may copy orrequest to copy widget code directly from widget 242/252/262. Theaudience may thus select a widget 242/252/262 from a marketplace ofavailable widgets. Individual users may also be able to provide emailinvites for others to copy/embed their personal widget 242/252/262.

Additional functionality may also be provided. These functions mayinclude but are not limited to the functions described below. Inaddition, these functions may be considered to correspond to functionsdescribed above. In a preferred embodiment, widget tracking forindividuals' personal widgets 242/252/262. An individual may placetracking code for their widget 242/252/262 either on their site240/250/260 or by posting their “parent” widget on the page to whichthey want to track click throughs. For example an individual user mayplace tracking code or a tracking widget 242/252/262 on their MySpacepage so that users who click on their widget end up at their MySpacepage. Audience members may “ping” an individual via the widget242/252/262, that is send them a quick message or just touch them byclicking on a widget 242/252/262. In this way an individual can know awidget owner contacts.

Widget points and value may also be accrued in a manner described above.An individual (e.g. their widget 242/252/262) gains points in the system230 as a calculation of certain actions such as: widget views (such aspage views), number of widgets posted, activity on editing/modifyingwidget, number of new users signed up through widget, and othermechanisms to be determined. Individuals may redeem their widget pointsfor additional features functions on their personal widget 242/252/262(such as decorations, additional tabs to place features on, and/orexclusive content). Individuals may also redeem their widget points forgoods/services as determined by the marketplace interacting with thepersonal widget(s) 242/252/262. Points may also be given as promotionsto get new users to sign up. If a new individual user signs up for thispersonal widget service by clicking on an existing widget 242/252/262,both the original individual user and new individual user may be awardedpoints. These personal widgets 242/252/262 may also be used tracking andreporting. Individual users may have access to a report of their widget242/252/262 individually and as an aggregate: such as a number of widgetviews, number of tab views (tabs within the widget), number of signups,number of widgets posted, other authorized users logging in and theiredits.

Thus, the system 230 may be applied to provide widgets 242/252/262usable in affiliate marketing and personal widgets. The widgets242/252/262 may receive dynamic updates based upon goals fulfilled.These updates may be used to reward the widget owner, the users, and/orthe site owner. Consequently, the widgets associated with a campaign maygrow in popularity. Effectiveness of the campaign may thus be improved.In addition, the method 200 may allow users to obtain customized userwidgets that may be tradable and made more desirable due to the updates.Tracking of actions through such widget may also improve data mining.Such data may be useful to advertisers and other entities.

FIG. 6 depicts another exemplary embodiment of a method 270 forproviding widget usable in marketing transactions. The method 270 isdescribed in the context of the system 230. However, the method 270 maybe used in another system (not shown) having different and/or additionalcomponents. For example, the method 270 may be used in connection withthe system 100. In addition, although steps of the method 270 aredepicted as occurring in a particular order, one or more of the stepsmay be performed in another order, in parallel, or multiple times.

Referring to FIGS. 5-6, the organizer configures the campaign and site240 which the organizer desires users to access, via step 272. Step 272may include using the control panel 239 to set goals and otherparameters for the campaign, provide embedded code 244 to the site(s),determine the goals and updates in response to reaching the goal(s), anddetermine other parameters for the campaign. The widget 242 is alsoconfigured, via step 274. In one embodiment, step 242 includes accessingthe widget maker 222 for the new widget 242. For example, the organizermight indicate the goals and updates to the widget 242 in response toreaching the goals, data source, colors, and other aspects of the widget242 and system 230. Thus, steps 272 and 274 are analogous to step 212 ofthe method 210 depicted in FIG. 4.

Referring back to FIG. 6, the widget 242 is published to the desiredsite(s) set in the configuration set by the organizer in steps 272 and274, via step 276. Step 276 may be considered analogous to the steps 202and 214 of the methods 200 and 210, respectively. In one embodiment, thewidget 242 may be published only to the organizer's site 240. However,in another embodiment, the widget 242 may be pushed to other sites, suchas the sites 250 and 260. Thus, widget 252, and 262 might also beprovided.

The widget 242 may be copied and optionally modified, via step 278. Inone embodiment, the widgets that were pushed to other promoters' sitesin step 276 may also be modified in step 278. In one embodiment,moderation may be performed as part of step 278 to ensure that copies ofthe widget 122 are only provided on desired sites and/or owned bydesired promoters. Such modifications may include the widgetowner/promoter configuring a sub-campaign. However, modification of thecopies may also be restricted based upon the configuration determined insteps 272 and 274. In one embodiment, publishing the widget in step 276may include rendering the widget on a host application each time aviewer accesses the site(s) on which the widget resides.

Input(s) related to the action(s) are received, via step 280. Trackingis also performed, via step 282. Thus, the actions of interest may betracked using the server 238, embeddable code 244, widgets 242/252/262,and other mechanisms available. In addition, the aggregates for actions,such as the total number of widget views, may also be determined andtracked as part of step 282.

Based on the actions taken and tracking performed in steps 280 and 282,respectively, it is determined whether any of the goals for whichupdates are provided, via step 284. If not, tracking is continued to beperformed without goal-based updates being provided to the widget242/252/262. If one or more goals have been met, then the widget242/252/262 is dynamically updated, via step 286. Some or all of thewidgets may be re-published, via step 288. Thus, the appropriate rewardsmay be provided to the users and/or owner of the widgets 242, 252,and/or 262.

Thus, using the methods 200, 210 and 270 and/or the system 100 and 230,campaigns may be configured and the widgets corresponding to thecampaign may be provided and disseminated. The widgets may used toperform various actions. These actions may be tracked against campaigngoals. Further, the widgets may be updated in response to goals beingreached and republished. These updates may be used to reward the widgetowner, the users, and/or the site owner. The widgets may grow inpopularity and use. Thus, the organizer of the campaign is better ableto disseminate their information. The widget owners/promoters and usersmay also be rewarded. For example, widget owners may share in revenuesand both widget owners and users may capitalize on the increasedfunctionality or other improvements to the widget. In addition, themethods 200, 210, and 270 and systems 100 and 200 may allow users toobtain customized user widgets that may be tradable and made moredesirable due to the updates. Tracking of actions through such widgetmay also improve data mining. Such data may be useful to advertisers andother entities.

A method and system for providing and using a widget in transactionssuch as affiliate has been disclosed. The present invention has beendescribed in accordance with the embodiments shown, and one of ordinaryskill in the art will readily recognize that there could be variationsto the embodiments, and any variations would be within the spirit andscope of the present invention. For example, the present invention canbe implemented using hardware, software, a computer readable mediumcontaining program instructions, or a combination thereof. Softwarewritten according to the present invention is to be either stored insome form of computer-readable medium such as memory or CD-ROM and is tobe executed by a processor. Consequently, a computer-readable medium isintended to include a computer readable signal, which may be, forexample, transmitted over a network. Accordingly, many modifications maybe made by one of ordinary skill in the art without departing from thespirit and scope of the appended claims.

1. A computer implemented method for providing a widget comprising:rendering the widget on a site, the widget for dynamically displayingmultimedia content associated with a campaign, the widget beingembeddable, copyable, and allowing at least one user action; receivingat least one input related to the at least one action; and updating thewidget based on at least one goal corresponding to the at least oneaction.
 2. The method of claim 1 wherein the campaign is associated withan organizer and wherein the widget and the site are associated with anowner different from the organizer.
 3. The method of claim 1 furthercomprising: tracking the at least one action.
 4. The method of claim 3wherein the tracking further includes: providing a point for a portionof the at least one action; and tracking a number of points for thewidget.
 5. The method of claim 3 wherein the tracking further includes:determining an aggregate for the at least one action; and wherein thewidget updating further includes updating the widget based on a goal forthe aggregate.
 6. The method of claim 1 wherein the at least one actionincludes at least one of a view of the widget, a click through to a siteassociated with the campaign, a contribution, proof that a specific sitewas visited, copying of the widget, and a sign-up.
 7. The method ofclaim 1 further comprising: rendering the widget after the updatingstep.
 8. The method of claim 1 wherein the updating further includes:providing an additional feature for the widget.
 9. The method of claim 6wherein the additional feature includes at least one of additionalmultimedia content, access to an additional uniform resource identifier,a discount, a prize, a privilege, an additional function, recognitionfor the widget.
 10. The method of claim 1 wherein a widget owner isassociated with the widget and wherein the at least one action includesa purchase, the method further comprising: providing a payment to thewidget owner based on the purchase.
 11. The method of claim 1 whereinthe widget is a copy of an ancestor widget and wherein the methodfurther includes: receiving a configuration for a sub-campaignassociated with the campaign, the sub-campaign being configured by awidget owner associated with the site.
 12. The method of claim 1 whereinthe widget has a plurality of copies, the method further comprising:providing the update to at least a portion of the plurality of copies.13. A computer implemented method for providing a widget associated witha widget owner, the method comprising: rendering the widget on a siteassociated with the widget owner, the widget for dynamically displayingmultimedia content associated with a campaign for an organizer, thewidget being embeddable, copyable, and allowing at least one useraction; receiving at least one input related to the at least one action;and providing a payment to the widget owner based on at least one goalassociated with the at least one action.
 14. A system for providing awidget comprising; a widget maker for receiving a configuration of thewidget, the widget for dynamically displaying multimedia content, thewidget being embeddable, copyable, and allowing at least one useraction, the configuration including a campaign with which the widget isassociated, the configuration further indicating an update for thewidget based on a goal corresponding to the at least one action; adatabase for storing data for the widget; at least one server forrendering the widget on a site.
 15. The system of claim 14 furthercomprising: a control panel for configuring the campaign.
 16. The systemof claim 14 wherein the campaign is associated with an organizer andwherein the widget and the site are associated with an owner differentfrom the organizer.
 17. The system of claim 14 wherein the serverfurther tracks the at least one action.
 18. The system of claim 17wherein the server further determines an aggregate for the at least oneaction and wherein the update is based on a goal for the aggregate. 19.The system of claim 14 wherein the at least one action includes at leastone of a view of the widget, a click through to a site associated withthe campaign, a contribution, proof that a specific site was visited,copying of the widget, and a sign-up.
 20. The system of claim 14 furthercomprising: an additional site, the at least one action being related tothe additional site, the additional site including embeddable code fortracking the at least one action.
 21. The system of claim 14 wherein thewidget is a copy of an ancestor widget and wherein the configurationfurther includes a sub-campaign associated with the campaign.
 22. Awidget corresponding to embeddable code, the widget comprising;embeddable code based on a configuration, the embeddable code beingcopyable, allowing at least one user action, associated with a campaign,and for dynamically displaying multimedia content, the configurationfurther indicating an update for the widget based on a goalcorresponding to the at least one action; wherein the update is providedfor the widget based on the goal being reached.
 23. An executablesoftware product stored on a computer-readable medium containing programinstructions for providing a widget, the program instructions for:rendering the widget on a site, the widget for dynamically displayingmultimedia content associated with a campaign, the widget beingembeddable, copyable, and allowing at least one user action; receivingat least one input related to the at least one action; and updating thewidget based on at least one goal corresponding to the at least oneaction.
 24. The executable software product of claim 23 wherein thecampaign is associated with an organizer and wherein the widget and thesite are associated with an owner different from the organizer.
 25. Theexecutable software product of claim 23 wherein a widget owner isassociated with the widget and wherein the at least one action includesa purchase, and wherein the program further includes instructions for:providing a payment to the widget owner based on the purchase.